Indian women’s team needs an ‘ideological change’, says Ramesh Powar

Indian women’s team had a tough outing against England women and lost both the ODI and T20I series by 2-1 margin. While the 'Women in Blue' showed a lot of positives along the way, the head coach Ramesh Powar feels there needs to be an ‘ideological change’ in mindset to transform the team into a fearless and aggressive unit going ahead.

In the first match, India ended up playing 180 dot balls. Skipper Mithali Raj scored the fifties in all the ODIs, but her strike rate was a cause of concern. Powar feels there should be fresh batters, at least in the middle-order, who could score briskly and give the innings the much-needed impetus.

 "Mithali is batting well but we need support from at least one more batter to put pressure on opponents in the middle order after Powerplays," Powar said at the end of the series to NDTV Sports.  

India needs to be fearless going ahead: Ramesh Powar

Powar further opined that the Indian team needs an ideological shift, which cannot happen overnight. "We have to be fearless. I can't force them in the first series. They have been playing with some ideology and we can't make drastic changes. We have to assess what suits them," the former India off-spinner said.

He further said the team should play a fearless brand of cricket to succeed in the coming few years. "To get them out of it (current slow batting in middle overs) (we have to) convince them and to do that, it takes a lot of communication. Fearless is how modern cricket will be played."  

The coach was also not happy with India's pace department and highlighted the need for genuine pace bowlers who can support Jhulan Goswami.

 “Till the World Cup, we need to find a way to get a middle order where we can say that they can surely get us 250. It’s up to all the stakeholders. The captain, the vice captain, selectors and myself, we will discuss these things.”

“We need to enhance the fast bowling department,” he added, saying: “We are only looking at Jhulan to perform. There has to be some support for her.”